Fairbairn Avenue is a major arterial road in the eastern suburbs of

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, the capital city of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The road travels from a junction with Pialligo Avenue near

Canberra Airport Canberra Airport is an international airport situated in the district of Majura, Australian Capital Territory. It serves Australia's capital city, Canberra, as well as the nearby city of Queanbeyan and regional areas of the Australian Capital ...

to the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a national war memorial, war museum, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, C ...

, a distance of . It is the primary access route to the

Australian Defence Force Academy The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military academy that provides military and Tertiary education in Australia, academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ...

Campbell Park Campbell Park is the name of the central park for Milton Keynes (England) and an electoral ward of the civil parish of Central Milton Keynes. (The nearby Campbell Park (civil parish) previously included the park but no longer does so. It did ...

and

Mount Ainslie Mount Ainslie is a hill with an elevation of that is located in the northeastern suburbs of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Mount Ainslie lies within part of the Canberra Nature Park. Cultural significance Accordi ...

. Fairbairn Avenue carries the Alternative National Highway 23 designation for a short distance between

Majura Road Majura Road is a major arterial road in the eastern rural area of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The road runs north to south, beginning at a grade separated junction with the Federal Highway inside the border of the Australian Cap ...

and Morshead Drive. This eastern section suffers from heavy

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

during morning and afternoon peak periods and a number of recent upgrades aim to address this. In 2009, works to improve access and traffic flows around the airport precinct saw Fairbairn Avenue duplicated between Pialligo Avenue – where an existing

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

was replaced with traffic lights – and Morshead Drive, also improving the intersection with Majura Road. A

grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

interchange constructed over Fairbairn Avenue as part of the

Majura Parkway Majura Parkway is a north–south parkway located in the Majura (district), Majura district of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It links the interchange with Federal Highway and Horse Park Drive at the edge of Gungahlin, Gungahlin dist ...

project was completed in 2016. The name Fairbairn Avenue was officially gazetted on 8 February 1968, in honour of Federal Minister for Civil Aviation

James Fairbairn James Valentine Fairbairn (28 July 1897 – 13 August 1940) was an Australian aviator and politician. A World War I fighter pilot, he represented the United Australia Party (UAP) in federal parliament and served as Minister for Air and Civil ...

, who was killed on 13 August 1940 Canberra air disaster.

References

{{Road infrastructure in Canberra Streets in Canberra

See also

References